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JOURNAL FOR MONDAY 13TH MAY, 2019
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SUBJECT: Returning to the cottage…
DATE: Mon 13 May 17:23:34 BST 2019
Last week when I released the PHP version of ‘The Cottage’ I disappointed a
lot of people. At the mention of PHP some people expected a version of ‘The
Cottage’ that would run on the web and in a web browser. I knew it would
disappoint, and even tried to curb expectations. Seems people still didn’t
read the whole entry before trying out the PHP version :(
What to do?
Dust off the books, a lot of Googling, and some long nights…
I spent most of Friday and Saturday writing a third version of ‘The Cottage’.
I then spent most of Sunday cleaning up the code, documenting, testing and
trying to make it presentable in public. I believe that the third version is
the best and most exciting yet. In fact I’m already thinking of enhancing and
expanding the initial ‘toy’ into something more.
The third version is written in JavaScript. It’s been tested in Chrome, IE11,
Edge (both versions), Firefox, Samsung’s browser and even mobile Safari[1]. It
has been tested on Linux, Windows 10 Pro, iOS, Android (6,8 and 9) and Chrome
OS. It works on the desktop, Chromebooks, tablets and phones.
The complete list of testing I have carried out so far is:
Linux (Debian) - Google Chrome
Windows 10 Pro - Internet Explorer 11
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge (Dev — Chromium based)
Mozilla Firefox
Android¹ - Google Chrome
- Samsung web browser (On Samsung devices)
Chrome OS² - Google Chrome
iOS (iPod touch, 6th gen) - Safari³
¹For Android testing:
Nexus 7 (2013 tablet) - Android 6 (Marshmallow)
Moto E - Android 6 (Marshmallow)
Nokia 5 - Android 9 (Pie)
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge - Android 8 (Oreo)
Samsung Galaxy S8+ and S9 - Android 9 (Pie)
²Acer CB5-132T, tested with physical keyboard and on-screen keyboard.
³There is a known issue with mobile Safari when the on-screen keyboard pops
up. However the cottage is still playable.
Not to shabby for three days work! :)
Why is this version more exciting than the others? Zero installation. You
don’t need to install Go or PHP to run the code. Just click a link or open the
file in your browser of choice and it just runs.
You can right-click, save a link, and have a local copy to tweak and play
around with. You already have the development tools right in the browser. With
this version of ‘The Cottage’ you can even develop with zero installation.
This works on the desktop, Android, ChromeOS and iOS where you can save the
file to your downloads, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive or Apple iCloud for
editing, and then open the file in the browser to test changes. For making
changes you can use an editor of your choice, the browser itself — via a
browser extension or the browser’s development tools. Google Drive and
Microsoft OneDrive have some associated editors that can be used. Not sure if
Apple’s iCloud has any editors? The file can be uploaded to any static web
hosting service, nothing special required. You can even share your copy with
your friends by sharing the file via Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive or
Apple’s iCloud.
Especially for children this all comes quite naturally! Us older folks may
need to fumble around a bit, but it’s not that difficult…
As for the code itself, please go gently — I’ve not written any sizeable
JavaScript in a long time. So this has also been a relearning experience for
me. The code may not been the greatest, but it’s been tested and works. No
frameworks have been used, it’s just plain old JavaScript. I do plan on
working on it some more and improving it. Any comments, especially on my
JavaScript and how to improve it, would be greatly appreciated:
diddymus@wolfmud.org
If you have any questions, experience any problems or do something interesting
with the code I'd also like to hear about it.
Now it’s time to unveil the third, JavaScript, version of ‘The Cottage’:
cottage.html
Try it out! Just click the link. Everything is in a single file (16kb/5.3kb
gzip compressed) and released under a 2-Clause BSD license. If you want your
own copy just right-click the link and save.
I hope this version of ‘The Cottage’ does not disappoint this time…
--
Diddymus
[1] Full disclosure, I don’t use Apple products at all. For testing on iOS
and Safari I used my daughter’s iPod touch. Thank you! ♥ :)
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SUBJECT: Feedback already!
DATE: Mon 13 May 19:41:10 BST 2019
Wow! Already getting a lot of positive feedback and comments on the JavaScript
version of ‘the cottage’ :)
Based on this I've made a few tweaks to the source code. Specifically:
- Clarified the BSD license used with a SPDX identifier: BSD-2-Clause
https://opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php
- Made the license a separate comment block.
- Fixed the description text for the location 'frontdoor'.
I’m also working on a new sub-area of the site just for ‘the cottage’ and
related material so as to keep it separate from WolfMUD. I'm also looking at
adding a separate git repository for ‘the cottage’. These two items will take
a little longer to sort out :P
I am SO relieved people were not disappointed this time! :)
--
Diddymus
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